MWDC: Hawkgirl: Angel Down
by Finmonster
Summary: After crash landing on Earth while transporting a dangerous criminal, Captain Kindra Sondrs finds her self stranded with a fugitive on the lose. Kindra must find allies on this strange planet if she has any hope of uncovering the conspiracy that is lurking in the shadows. Marvelous World of DC Part 2 Book 13


**MWDC: Part 2 Book 13**

**Hawkgirl: Angel Down**

**Chapter 1: Earthfall**

_Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall._

-Confucius

_September 23__rd__, 2012 somewhere in the Sol System_

Warning bells rang and explosions echoed through the confines of the spaceship as it hurtled through the solar system, headed towards the star known as Sol. The ship was a small one, designed to hold only a few occupants. Its design resembled an airplane, though it was much sleeker and made from a strangely shiny and reflective metal. It had two engines along its large, sweeping wings, one of which was sparking with electricity, indicating it was damaged. Sounds of battle came from within the ship.

Inside the ship, warning lights flashed as the sounds of a struggle echoed through the small vessel. A female figure was hurled into one of the panels of the ship, causing her to let out a shout of pain as she slumped against the ground. Growling in anger, the figure stood up, illuminated by the warning lights above her.

She appeared to be a young woman, somewhere in her mid-twenties. She had large, piercing, yellow eyes, a pointed noise and her head was covered in auburn feathers, covering her head like hair. She had long nails that almost seemed like talons. Her most notable attribute though was the large wings growing from her shoulder blades and colored with auburn colored feathers. She wore a green tank top that left her midriff exposed, along with a tight pair of green pants. Her clawed feet were left bare.

She grunted as she pushed herself off the wall and glared at her attacker. Before her stood a monstrous creature. It appeared reptilian, with blue scales and intense yellow eyes. Its mouth was circular in shape, with rows upon rows of razor sharp teeth. Its build was large and muscular and it had a large powerful tail with spines running down its back. It roared at her, looking ready to attack again.

"Is that the way you want it?" she growled with a fierce voice, "Fine, let's do it."

The monster roared as the woman let out a fierce cry before they leapt at each other. The monster snapped its powerful jaws at the woman, but she managed to grab hold of its jaws, holding them away from her face. Kicking the monster in the chest, she forced it back a few feet, allowing her to swing her arm around and rake her claws across the creature's face, drawing green blood. The creature screamed in pain as it stumbled back a few feet away, blood running down its face, allowing the female to regroup.

Glancing to her side, she noticed something under one of the consoles. She smiled as she recognized the small, metallic baton that was pointed at both ends. Reaching for it, she grabbed the cool metal and pulled it to her. She turned around just as the monster regained its senses and rounded towards her.

Pushing a button on the side of the baton, she caused it to suddenly spring to life in her hands. Both ends extended until she was holding a spear as long as she was tall and pointed at both ends, which began to crackle and spark with electricity. Holding the weapon by its insulated center, she twirled it around expertly before pointing it at the monster.

The monster roared as it turned back to her and charged, teeth and fangs bared. Letting out a roar of her own, the woman leapt at the monster, the spear pulled back to strike as her wings spread out behind her. She dodged the monster's wild swing before plunging her spear into the creature's shoulder. The monster howled with pain as the hot metal dug into its flesh and electricity coursed through its body.

"It's over Byth," the woman growled as she slammed the injured monster on the ground, her spear still lodged in its shoulder, "You're not getting away this time."

The monster groaned in pain before it began to chuckle. As it did, the monster's form began to shift. It grew smaller as its scales smoothed out into skin. Its claws changed to talons and feathered wings sprouted from its back. It grew smaller and more human like until a birdman similar to the woman lay below her.

"You sure about that, Captin Sondrs?" the man, Byth, asked with a sly smile, "Because it seems like your ship is about to crash."

Sondrs' eyes widened in realization as she looked up at the ship around her. Sparks were shooting from multiple parts of the ship as warning lights flashed and alarms blared. Turning towards the cockpit, she quickly rushed to it while Byth smirked at her.

Sondrs ran into the cockpit and quickly sat down in the pilot's chair, taking hold of the rapidly shaking controls before looking out the view window. Her eyes widened with shock as she looked at the rapidly approaching blue and green planet before grabbing hold of the controls and trying to pull the ship out of its dive.

Her attempts proved futile however as the ship refused to pull out of its nose dive. Alarms screeched as the ship entered the planet's atmosphere, the metal heating up dangerously as it rubbed against the planet's air.

As the ship fell through the sky, Byth smirked as he picked himself up, holding a hand over the wound in his shoulder. After standing up, his form began to shift, growing smaller and hairier before fully transforming into a rat-like creature with four eyes and spines growing out of its back. It scurried away in a hole in the ships paneling and disappeared.

Sondrs swore as she fought desperately to pull the ship out of its dive, but it continued to plummet ever downwards towards the unforgiving ground. A sensor went off on the panel in front of Sondrs, warning her of an imminent crash. Looking out the window, she saw the ground quickly approaching. She had only seconds to make her decision.

Reaching out, she slammed her hand on a large button on the controls in front of her. There was a hiss before the ship's view window was blasted off by pressurized air. As the window went sailing through the sky, a second blast of pressurized air shot her seat out of the ship and into the air. As the chair fell away, Sondrs continued plummeting towards the ground below. She began to spread her wings as she fell, but before she could the ship struck the earth behind her, erupting in an explosion of fire, metal and earth. The shockwave from the blast caught Sondrs right in the back, the force sending her tumbling through the air, unable to regain her balance and fly straight. A second later she hit the ground with a loud thud, kicking up earth and dirt as she landed and skid to a halt.

Sondrs groaned as she rolled onto her back, her wings sticking out awkwardly from underneath her. She struggled to pull herself to her feet, her head spinning, her ears ringing and her vision was full of spots. As she tried to sit up, a sharp bolt of pain shot through her head, causing her to gasp in agony and lay back down, holding her head in an effort to dull the pain. Slowly her vision became blacker and blacker as her eyes fluttered closed. The last thing she remembered was the sounds of voices and feeling herself being lifted up before all became darkness.

_Later_,

Sondrs groaned in pain as her eyes fluttered open as she found herself laying in a bed. Initially, she hissed at the bright light that met her vision, covering her eyes with her hands to block it out. After a few moments, she lowered her hands and blinked her eyes rapidly to adjust to the light. Her vision clearing, she tried to sit up, but immediately regretted the decision as a sharp pain shot through her skull. She grunted in misery and brought a hand up to her aching head, trying to rub the pain away.

"Take it easy there, miss," a female voice said, startling Sondrs, "You took quite the bump to the head."

Lowering her hand and opening her eyes widely, Sondrs saw a woman sitting in a chair not far away from the bed she now lay on. She was an older woman, with grey streaks in her otherwise red hair that she wore tied back in a bun and a few wrinkles on her fair features. She had hard, light green eyes an athletic build despite her age. She wore a simple, white, button-up blouse along with tan pants and brown loafers.

"Who are you?" Sondrs asked, on guard even though she was having trouble sitting up.

"Good, it seems that your universal translator is still working," the woman said with a smile as she indicated to the small electronic device on the woman's belt, "As to your question, I could ask you the same thing."

"Where am I?" Sondrs demanded, growing agitated.

"That depends, how specific do you want that answer to be, Thanagarian?" the woman asked, her smirk growing into a full-fledged smile.

"How…How do you know what I am?" Sondrs asked, shocked, "You're a…"

"Human?" the woman finished, "Why, yes I am. And because of that, seeing as Earth is registered haven world and is unique in that our governments have kept it hidden from the general populous that extraterrestrial or alien live exists at all, you're surprised that I know what a Thanagarian is, am I right?"

Sondrs could only nod dumbly, causing the woman to continue to smile at her.

"My name is Shiera Hall, to answer your first question," the woman stated as Sondrs recovered, "What's yours?"

"I'm Captain Kindra Sondrs," Sondrs answered, something about the woman's name raising a red flag in her head but her addled mind couldn't manage to put the pieces together, "Now can you answer my other question? As well a few others."

"Certainly," Shiera said with a chuckle, "I'm sure you're full of them. To answer your question, you are in St. Roch, Louisiana in the United States of America."

"I remember being briefed about Earth's divided state," Kindra mused, rubbing her head some more before she took the time to look around. The room she was in had a high vaulted ceiling with white plaster walls. Around the room was a collection of old, archaic weapons either hanging from racks on the wall behind protective glass or sitting in cases made of similar material on pedestals.

"Where am I?" she asked, before seeing Shiera's confused look, "I mean what kind of building is this? An arsenal?"

"No," Shiera answered with a laugh, "It's a museum."

"A museum?" Kindra questioned.

"Yes," Shiera replied, "The St. Roch Historical Museum. I'm the curator here along with my husband."

As Shiera said this, a man walked into the room. He appeared the same age as Shiera, with greying blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He had a powerful physique for someone of his age and tanned skin. He wore a simple, white, button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up, along with tan colored slacks held up by a brown leather belt and a pair of black leather shoes on his feet. He looked up from the newspaper he was reading as he entered the room.

"Good, you're up," he said gruffily as he walked over towards them.

"Kindra, let me introduce you to my husband, Carter Hall," Shiera said, a bemused smile on her face, "Carter, this is Captain Kindra Sondrs."

"Good to meet you, Captain," Carter said as he walked up, offering her his hand to shake. Kindra looked at the hand in confusion, raising one of her feathered eyebrows.

"Oh right, that's not really a Thanagarian thing is it?" Carter asked with a chuckle, "It's a show of friendship, you're supposed to shake it."

Reaching out, Kindra took Carter's outstretched hand between her thumb and forefinger before shaking his hand from side to side. Carter raised an eyebrow in confusion as Shiera let out a snort of amusement.

"Well, I suppose that works," Carter replied, "So what unit are you in, Kindra?"

"Excuse me?" Kindra asked, shocked.

"What unit are you in?" Carter asked again, slower as if this would help her understand him.

"Alright, who are you people?" Kindra demanded, jumping to her feet, before pausing for a second as a rush of vertigo struck her. Blinking her eyes and shaking her head, she quickly turned back to Shiera and Carter. Something about them was sending off all sorts of alarms in her head, but she was damned if she couldn't put them together.

"How do you know so much about Thanagar?" Kindra demanded, "Why are you helping me?"

"We have a bit of a history with Thanagar," Shiera explained enigmatically.

"What do you mean?" Kindra asked in confusion.

"Maybe it's better we show you," Carter stated, before turning and beginning to walk away, Shiera following him. Kindra watched them go, a look of confusion on her face before Carter glanced over his shoulder at her.

"Well, are you coming?" Carter questioned.

"Coming where?" Kindra asked, confused.

"To the Armory, of course," Carter replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Kindra raised an eyebrow at the older man before sighing and following him as Carter and Shiera left the room. Following them, Kindra couldn't help but look around the museum as they went. She was impressed by the ancient weapons and sets of armor that had been collected throughout the building. Her eyes were also draw to the skeletal remains of some sort of giant reptilian creature that had been set up in one of the larger rooms.

Before long however, they came to a side room in one of the exhibit halls and entered it after Carter punched a code into the door. Stepping inside, Kindra was expecting some sort of answer to what was happening. She was less than impressed with what she found.

"This is your armory?" Kindra asked incredulously, gesturing to what was clearly a broom closet.

"What?" Carter asked, clearly confused by the question, "No, of course not. How hard did you hit your head?"

Kindra growled indignantly and was about to respond when Carter reached into a shelve and pulled a hidden switch, causing a loud clicking sound before the shelves swung inward, revealing a hidden room. Her eyes widening in surprise, Kindra took a step forwards as she stared at the contents of the room.

Within the long, narrow room was indeed enough weapons to fill a small armory. Archaic weapons of all types and shapes she could imagine, along with a few advanced looking firearms. What caught Kindra's attention, however, were the two sets of armor situated in the back of the room.

Taking a tentative step forward, Kindra focused all of her attention on the armors that sat in a case before her. They were made out of a dark, golden colored metal which had been designed to resemble a bird of prey, from the cowl-like helmet and its beaked nose, to the talon-like gauntlets and boots. Sprouting from the armors' backs, made out of the same metal as the other parts, were wings with individual metal feathers having been shaped along their surfaces. The chest and legs of the armors were black in color and on the front of the chests there were emblems of a hawk's head in profile on a red field.

"That's…" Kindra whispered in shock as she took a tentative step forward, "That's…"

"I think the phrase you're looking for is "Nth metal armor,"" Carter commented with a snort.

"How?" Kindra asked, turning to stare incredulously at Carter and Shiera, "How do you have those?"

"That's a bit of a long story," Shiera admitted with a shrug, "To sum it up, we found them in some old ruins years and years ago. We think they came from a crashed Thanagarian ship, though we've never been sure how it came to be there."

"Nth metal can last ages, and the design definitely looks old," Kindra said as she turned to look at the armor closer, "But why did you bring them here?"

"We used to use them," Carter explained with a shrug.

"Used them?" Kindra questioned as she turned back to look at the others, "For what?"

"We used to use them to help protect people in this city and this country," Shaeyra explained, "We're retired now."

"So you used to be officers of the law?" Kindra asked.

"Something like that," Carter answered with a snort of laughter.

"That's obviously what brings you here," Shiera stated, "So what is it you were doing?"

"Prisoner transport," Kindra grumbled under her breath.

"Seems that went well," Carter commented, sardonically, "Who was the prisoner?"

"A Thanagarian male named Byth Rok," Kindra explained with a sigh, "He's used to just be a petty thief but recently, he somehow gained the ability to shapeshift. No one knows how but my superiors believe he has connections to some major player."

"Any ideas on who?" Carter questioned.

"Some names have been thrown around but nothing solid," Kindra commented before eyeing Carter, "What's it to you anyway? Officer of the law or not, I doubt you two have been very involved in the galactic scene the last few years."

"We're just trying to help," Shiera commented, trying to placate the Thanagarian.

"What would be helpful is if you could direct me to my ship," Kindra stated.

"Yeah, about that," Carter said with a hint of awkwardness, "Your ship hit the ground pretty hard. It's not going to be flying any time soon."

"Wonderful," Kindra groaned, pinching the bridge of her pointed nose with a pair of her taloned fingers, "Then I should at least go to the crash site and check out the damage. Hopefully the ship's long distance communicator will still be intact and I can signal back to Thanagar."

"Easier said than done," Carter commented.

"What do you mean?" Kindra questioned.

"Well, as you're aware, Earth is a haven planet," Shiera stated, "So things work differently here."

"Yes, I'm aware," Kindra replied, a confused look on her face, "But what does that have to do with me?"

"It has to do with you because the moment you crashed here, another party has come into play," Carter explained, "One specifically designed to handle situations originating from outside this planet."

"Oh," Kindra questioned, raising an eyebrow at Carter, "And what group might this be?"

_Meanwhile, on the outskirts of St. Roch,_

As the urban sprawl of the city of St. Roch gave way to swamps and fields, the air became quiet and the touch of people seemed to all but disappear. This, in turn, made one spot in the wilderness all the more curios. In a largely empty field, the ground had been torn apart due apparently to the crash landing of an alien craft. The craft dug up a long trough of dirt behind it before it came to rest near the center of the field. The craft sat in a small crater, electrical sparks occasionally coming off of its damaged components.

A group of people were working around the craft, forming a perimeter around the crash site as they set up numerous pieces of equipment and tents to house them in. Almost all of them were dressed in black suits and they all wore sunglasses despite night having fallen.

One of the men stood on the edge of the crater, looking down at the wrecked ship. He was dressed in a black suit and sunglasses like the others, and had a strong build with wavy black hair. Reaching into his pocket, he retrieved some form of communicator before holding it up to his ear.

"Zed?" the man asked, "This is Agent N. I'm at the crash site. From what our preliminary diagnostics show, we believe the craft is Thanagarian in origin. No sign of any occupants as of yet. I'll keep you informed."

With that, Agent N turned off his communicator before putting it back in his pocket and moving to join the rest of his team.

_Meanwhile,_

St. Roch's city dump was like many others, a collection of mounds composed of rotting garbage and refuse of all sorts. The mounds were infested with all sorts of pests, be they insects, sea gulls or rats. Even the occasional stray dog made its home amongst the filth. There was one creature though that stood out from the others. It resembled a rat but possessed four eyes and had spines growing out of its back.

As the creature scurried about the trash heap, a worker, dressed in a grey jump suit and work boots, came walking by. The creature hid, trying to avoid detection. At first, it appeared the worker would simply walk by, but suddenly he paused right in front of where the creature was hiding.

"I know you are there, Byth Rok," the worker stated in an oddly monotone voice, "I request you come out so that I may speak with you."

With a small squeak, Byth Rok left his hiding spot before transforming into his natural form still nursing the injury on his shoulder.

"I take it that's you in there?" Byth questioned as he looked the worker over.

"I am my master's servant," the worker replied, turning to face Byth, showing that his eyes were pure white.

"Ah, one of your thralls," Byth commented, "Where is he then?"

"I will take you to him," the worker stated before he turned and began to walk away, Byth following him as he morphed into a form similar to the workers, "My master is eager to begin now that you have arrived on the planet."

"Well there might be a few snags in the plan now," Byth stated, "I didn't exactly get here discreetly. Local authorities are no doubt on alert. Then there's Captain Sondrs. I get the feeling she survived the crash as well, and if she survived, you can bet she'll be coming after me."

"Let her come," the worker replied with a small smile, "What is one Thanagarian against the might of Xemnu?"

A/N: I've been working on this one for a while and I have some interesting ideas planned for it. Hope you guys like it! As always, feedback and critiques are always welcome so please review! Later, True Believers!


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